This seems like an answer of sorts. Of late, I have been asking God to show me why my eyes are opened to the battle within the Church, which many are seemingly blind to. What does God want me to do? My little efforts have met with walls. I wait upon the Lord for His cue. How to Fight the Coming War https://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/articles/item/4380-how-to-fight-the-coming-war Tuesday, March 12, 2019 The bell rings. Everyone stands. Incense fills the air. The priest and altar boys make their slow and humble procession around the pews and down to the altar. Several words are chanted in a language set apart only to be used for speaking to God during the Holy Sacrifice. Next, we all kneel. As I look down the aisle and up at the altar, with the engraved marble and gorgeous statuary surrounding the celebrant, I say to myself, "THIS is the Church.” That moment of overwhelming joy, however, is quickly darkened as my mind drifts off to the question, "Is there a future for people like me in the Church of Francis and beyond?" A quick bit of background. I am a convert. I came into the Catholic Church almost a decade ago. I have always considered this a tremendous blessing as I do not have a single Catholic in my family and yet somehow the Holy Ghost still guided me into the Ark of His Church, which for me, is the most beautiful and majestic thing this side of Heaven. Blessing though I view it to be, I still see a tinge of humor in God's doing so. He called me home to His Holy Church, yes, but He also just so happened to do so at a time when it was on fire. If you were to ask me why I converted, I would tell you some very familiar things. Such as my study of history (through Protestant authors mind you) that opened the door to many questions as I was constantly finding more and more Catholic doctrine taught and believed by the early Church; not to mention the fact that they even called it the Catholic Church. It was also the fact that the Bible could not be infallible unless it was compiled by an infallible Church. But these were just the "sealers of the deal," if you will. They were not the most important part of my conversion, for that honor goes to the overwhelming spiritual attraction I had to the Catholic Church. I certainly dare to say it was other-worldly in nature. I grew up in a "low church" Protestant denomination, and thus, never had any experience of liturgy. So, when one day I was looking at the photos of the Traditional Catholic Mass in a history book, I was really overcome by how beautiful it was. I had never seen anything like it before. I had not once stepped foot inside a Catholic Church, so I was never exposed to the architecture, the stunning vestments, the gold instruments of the Mass and so on. To this day, nearly a decade later, I can still envision that photograph of the Traditional Mass at the moment of the elevation of the Blessed Sacrament. I have always believed that God is the author of beauty, and therefore in order for us to see something truly beautiful, we can be comfortable in knowing that that someone or something is in some way pleasing to God. So, it was the beauty of the Church which drew me in. It pains me to say that the beauty of the Church has been eclipsed by so much ugliness in modern times. Some pictures ARE worth more than a thousand words. I have to admit that I never expected to come to a point where I would consider myself a traditionalist Catholic, but, then again, I also never expected the Church would be in the state it is in now when I converted, and this brings us to the present day. Now we all know how easy it is to just go on our way and try to ignore obvious problems staring us in the face. This is particularly attractive when we don't have any clear answers as to how to solve them. But while I am content at my parish, having been blessed to live in an area with a traditional priest, I am no fool. I know the floor is old and water damaged for us traditionalists. I know full well, that while I take it as an article of faith that in the end we will triumph, there are very dark times ahead for us. These thoughts have been surfacing all the more since being told by my wife a little over a month ago that I was going to become a father. It is truly amazing how much more honest you are with yourself when you have a child on the way. I am eternally grateful to God for the opportunity to become a dad. That said, here I am writing this, and I am wondering what kind of a Church he or she will find. Will my child find the same beauty that I found when I converted? Will they be drawn in as I was and hence stay in the faith and enter Heaven? This brings me back to the opening question: Do any of us traditionalists have a future in the Church of Francis and beyond? The answer to this question isn't easy. For myself, I like to think that my nice little parish will continue to be exactly as it is now. When my priest retires or dies another great priest like him will be installed and all will be well with the world. But I know this isn't the case. We are all too aware of the ongoing purge of traditional priests. We read stories all the time about someone being canned by a tradition hating bishop. We read headlines of Papa Bergoglio literally destroying entire orders of nuns for being too Catholic. So, this is where we are at, and keep in mind that it is Francis who is appointing the cardinals and the bishops, and it is from this lot that will spring the next pope and the next cardinals, bishops and priests. I also know that we are going to continue to have synods. The heresies which have flowed from them will continue to flow like a broken water main. This one I really hate to say out loud, but I feel I must in order to mentally prepare myself and others for what's ahead: we are going to have more papal encyclicals. Parishes will be getting closed by the dozens over these sex abuse lawsuits and which ones do you think will be targeted for closing? We will be forced to choose to attend wild Novus Ordo parishes which are ran by perverts or driving an hour or even more to find a Mass with some measure of sanity in it. Our Lady of Akita warned us of these times. We will be forced to accept watered down doctrine coming from Rome on a daily basis, and don't put it past Francis I or Francis II and his henchmen to come out with a new-er form of Mass. As bad as all this is, bear in mind that we haven't even touched the topic of women's ordination, or the ending of celibacy for priests. Priests will be married, and maybe even Father James Martin will tie the knot. Ok. So that's the state of affairs in the Church. That is pretty much laying it all out there, a total synopsis of what lies ahead for us. If we were leftist fanatics like Bergoglio, we would be ecstatic. But, we are not. We are traditionalists. Thus, our hearts are heavy. So, what do we do? The enemies INSIDE the walls of the Church are many. We are few. There is no point in mincing any words. However, we have something the revolutionaries in the Church do NOT have: God's blessing. God is not the author of heresy and perversity and that is exactly what the Revolution represents. Due to this fact, they are without the Greatest Ally man can have. This DOES mean something. Without God, we have far too little power to do anything. But, with God, we have a chance. All of us in this counter-revolution are here for a reason: God called us into this camp in order to fight. So, fight we shall! (And if you're here, my guess God called you to the front because you LIKE fighting. Welcome to one of the few places where a personality defect can be turned into a strength). So then, how do we fight? (continues below...)
St. Athanasius said: The heretics may have the churches, but we have the Faith. Marching forward into battle, there WILL be further papal documents which contain heresy. I don't know whether or not the pope will state they are ex cathedra, but let’s just say he does. RESIST. Not even the pope is above God. He's not. Period. And it's not a sin to say so. If Francis, or Tagle the Great, step out onto the Loggia and declare "The chicken and the egg BOTH came first," it does not make it so. Arm yourself with this and take heart. The words ex cathedra or let him be anathema are not like the words abra cadabra. They do not turn a falsehood into a truth. The Roman Pontiff is BOUND by the truth revealed by God through Scripture and Tradition. There are no "surprises of the Holy Spirit." No "maturing of doctrine." No. If and when you hear further heresy, with or without "magisterial authority" attached at the end of it, resist it. Scripture and Tradition will light the way even when the pope hides all the lanterns. Next, and I want to say first that I am not a member of the Society of Saint Pius X, nor do I attend their chapels. Nevertheless, I believe that they ought to be given our full support moving forward and we must drop the nonsense of some of us faithful Catholics who do a lot of amazing work but still throw shade on the Society. The day is coming when Summorum Pontificum will be a skeleton, and the FSSP and Institute of Christ the King will be suppressed. It is my belief that many of the priests from these two groups will either start something new outside the Church's canonical regularity, and thus become just like the Society, or, they will join the Society Itself. So to those who constantly bash the SSPX, be careful. One day, you may find yourself choosing between attending a Mass by a married Cardinal Tobin and a Society chapel. We must show our fidelity to the pope, but NEVER to heresy, and we are not required to attend Masses that are corrupt and devoid of any Catholic identity. Nor are we required to scandalize our children by bringing them to totally corrupted parishes. The SSPX just so happens to be an organization who figured out long ago about the nature of the crisis in the Church what we are just finding out now. I also believe that tithing something to the Society or any other group that pops up in the future as a resistance movement is an investment into the parishes our children and grandchildren will be forced to attend tomorrow. This article is a preview of the March 15th print-edition of The Remnant Newspaper. Don't miss a single article, Subscribe Today! When it comes to heretical priests and bishops that we have the misfortune of coming into contact with we MUST, no, we HAVE THE DUTY to make certain that they consider having come into contact with US a misfortune. The days of showing the clergy respect as a universal rule have come and gone. Even leaving the issue of sex abuse and its subsequent cover-up aside, we have to lay aside our timidity. Christ was NOT timid. We all remember the scene where Christ physically beat people out of the temple. Now I'm not suggesting anything like that. But it still sets a good example. The Church is the house of God and it is to be protected in its physical as well as its doctrinal integrity with the same amount of passion and fury that we protect our own home and family. So, when we hear something goofy come from the mouth of a priest in Mass, we approach him and demand he explain himself. Or, record the sermon and post it online and/or give it to certain Catholic watchdog groups. Don't show more respect for the clergy who attack the Almighty God than you show for the Almighty God Himself. Also, we have to let our priests and bishops who are faithful to the true teachings of Holy Mother Church know and feel our unflinching support. Invite them over for dinner. Throw a surprise party for them in appreciation for all that they do in creating an environment where you and your family can live an authentically Catholic life. They are taking great risks. Many of them have sacrificed careers as bishops or higher in order to stay true to doctrine. Let them know how much you appreciate all they do and that you have their back if and when push comes to shove. Moving on to the clergy of tomorrow we must understand that our seminaries were infiltrated with modernist professors who created modernist priests and bishops. They did this in secret. They feigned loyalty to Catholic dogma while secretly holding heterodox views in order to get ordained. Later generations then no longer needed to hide their heresies. They were now in charge. WE must do the same. If we know a seminarian, or your child is entering a seminary, if they are not able to enter a KNOWN good one, make certain they act as the revolutionaries of old did. They must know they have to keep their orthodoxy secret. Get by. Get ordained and THEN do battle. There is nothing wrong in doing so. We are taking back Christ's Church. Fr. Vega, Cristero priest (For Greater Glory) I could go on with more things that we can do to fight but I feel this is a good start. I might write a Part II some day in the future as events unfold themselves, and we have to adjust our strategies. But the primary message I want to get across is this: WE ARE AT WAR. There can be no more standing by. Not for any of us. We are all here on this side of the fence for a reason and that reason is simple: to help fight the barbarians at (or rather inside) the gates. We each have different roles of course. Some are gifted writers, Vloggers and commentators. Those of us in that talent field must utilize every ounce of strength in us to wage battle. For others who find their talents outside this realm, you still play key roles as suggested by the necessary actions cited above to confront corrupt clergy. Also, financially supporting groups who are actively fighting this modernist heresy is an extremely important role to play as well. History has never known of a free revolution and ours will not be the first. So much is at stake here. Much ground has already been lost. Be that as it may, we are still seeing promising signs of a renewal of tradition in the Church among many people, most importantly, among the youth. In each traditional parish, not only are there families, but those families are big. The boys in these parishes of today will be infiltrating the seminaries of tomorrow. So, there is much hope to be had. The Counter-Revolution is getting younger, and the Revolution is getting older. The men who wish to destroy the Church have lost their faith in the belief of the indefectibility of the Church. The gates of Hell will not prevail. Not even another Bergoglio could do that because Christ Himself as well as Our Lady of Fatima have blessed our mission, because it is nothing less than saving the one, holy Catholic and apostolic Church. All we have to do is everything we can. God will take care of the rest. I will leave you know with a verse we all know but which almost has a ring of a battle cry to it when read in the backdrop of today's climate: "Therefore, brethren, stand fast: and hold the traditions, which you have learned, whether by word or by our epistle." 2 Thessalonians 2:15 The Faith, and thus, the Church, will ALWAYS be triumphant.
Pray or prayer never used once is telling about this author. The article takes a very humanistic view and humanistic plan for this so called battle. The presumption to know the hearts of priests and bishops better than God Himself does is dangerous. Yes, talk to your priest in private and if you still can't come to terms find another church but if praying for them doesn't come before trying to slam them on line you may find you are not following God's Will and may be, through pride, fighting against Him. "Church of Francis" LOL Last I remember it was Christ's church. This never happened......."We all remember the scene where Christ physically beat people out of the temple" This is rather presumptuous and implies the new mass is somehow wrong or not valid/holy..... "We will be forced to choose to attend wild Novus Ordo parishes which are ran by perverts or driving an hour or even more to find a Mass with some measure of sanity in it." "All we have to do is everything we can. God will take care of the rest." Actually we are called to follow God's Will. This impression given by so many claimed ultra traditionalists that they are somehow God's chosen and all others are damned is getting really tiring.
I did notice that prayer, fasting and acts of reparation were never mentioned once in the article. I was disturbed by it.
I have been thinking about this all afternoon. Until the Mass is completely changed, the Holy Catholic Church is still the Holy Catholic Church, and not the Church of Francis, no matter how many Sodomites are in the clergy. I do agree with that completely. And I agree with most of what you said. The author does sound somewhat like a chicken with its head cut off, running around in circles, thinking of things to do off the top of his head, now that you mention it. He does say, hold fast to Tradition. We are doing that already! Without prayer and reparation, and following Our Lord's Commandments and Our Lady's messages, how will we be guided? Jesus established His Church as the roadmap. Sometimes we have to stand still and watch the deliverance of the Lord, like the Israelites did in the Old Testament. We have the benefit of the Mass and Our Lord Himself in Holy Communion, STILL.
Sg, this is the time of the separation of the sheep from the goats. The Gracious God is opening the eyes of His Sheep. He knows His sheep, and His sheep know Him. But we also remember the parable where the shepherd has 99 sheep but will go to any lengths to rescue the one who has strayed. That is about where I think we are: praying for straying sheep to be saved. At least, that is where I find myself and my mission. There is still time to gather the sheep into the fold. I speak for how I see it. The days fly by, though.
Amen HH and thank God for that! Personally, I don't believe that the Mass can be changed completely into something not in keeping with the Holy Spirit and God's wishes because THIS church is His Bride! Christ's promises state it. I know we see some who do or say some things that are way on the fringe but we simply have to detach from these things and not sin in the process. The New Order of the Mass may not be the Mass some want but it is the Mass God has deemed to grant us. It can be incredibly beautiful and traditional as well as made into something hard to attend depending on the priest. Anyone who doesn't think so should look for Fr Ripperger's talks and watch every of them. He speaks to this in several of them and relates them to some experiences that those priests called to be exorcists have encountered in their cases of freeing people using old and new rites as well as Eucharist from both rites as well. He has also some harsh things to say for those who think of themselves as traditionalists. We must have patience. We must trust God's plan. We must have Faith. The battle is powers and principalities. I was thinking a lot this morning about how it was not that long ago that a person could not belong to a parish outside their nearest locale. It simply was not allowed. Thinking about this I was struck with the thought that if this were the case I may not have converted. That is how tepid I found my local parish and the Mass there. I thank God that in His Mercy he has allowed us to color outside the lines a bit. He is so incredibly merciful.
I sincerely believe that any Catholic who is truly concerned about the crisis in our Church will already be praying and making sacrifices, begging God to restore His bride. That goes without saying. The author of the article has focused on the other part - on what outward action the foot soldiers in the Church Militant need to take. As it says in CCC 2834: "Pray and work." "Pray as if everything depended on God and work as if everything depended on you."
The following video of a 'liturgical dance' was shared very recently by Beth, on another thread: Do you consider this Novus Ordo mass holy? There are many examples of 'wild' Novus Ordo masses on Youtube. What do you think of them all?
I have noticed that since the end of the Meeting in February, Michael Matt has entirely thrown in the towel in regard to not only the Vatican, but the post-Conciliar Church as well. For him, the Novus Ordo is tainted and corrupted, though I haven't heard him say invalid. The only path is the Traditionalist path. Maybe he always thought that; if so, he has now dispensed with any veneer of respect. The Extraordinary Form is the only Form. It is obvious the young father who wrote the above article agrees. This is a mistake. It is schismatic in it's understanding. As I have suggested before, it resembles the path of the Donatist heresy of the 4th century. The Donatists had a valid concern. A number of bishops and priests had capitulated to the Romans during the Diocletian persecution, and their ongoing presence in the leadership of the Church was viewed by the Donatists as an ontological threat to the Church. They all must go. Since in their minds, the Church wasn't cleansing things sufficiently or quickly enough, the Donatists broke with Rome. There is little difference between that 4th century turmoil and the picture painted by the young father in the above article. The Traditional path is the only path. He offers no prospective alliance with faithful Catholics outside the Traditionalist persuasion. The only hope for the future is infiltration of the seminary system by traditionalists. When one chooses such a direction there develops a constant demand for self-justification. This leads to an ongoing attack against those who are perceived as blind. This is why Michael Matt has also broadened his sharp criticism to include just not heretics within the Church but also those he labels as neo-conservatives. I am one of those. And as each new synod during this Pontificate convenes and further muddies the water, Michael's diatribe will only intensify. I fear such anger can easily lead to a heretical stand. Persecution will only deepen in the near future. The Power of the State will be brought against us all as demonstrated in the case of Cardinal Pell. And I dare say that Cardinal Pell is no Traditionalist. So I say to Michael Matt. We who love the Barque of Peter but who don't fully embrace the Traditionalist Movement may have to stand by your side to be executed. May the Two Hearts embrace us both on the other side. Safe in the Flames of the Sacred Heart!
May I ask why you don’t think that it is corrupted or tainted, seeing that it was originally ‘formulated’ to be a meal instead of a sacrifice, with the help of 6 Protestants who don’t believe in the Real Presence? You have probably read The Ottaviani Intervention https://www.ewtn.com/library/curia/reformof.htm before. What do you make of it? some excerpts: 1. “....that if we consider the innovations implied or taken for granted which may of course be evaluated in different ways, the Novus Ordo represents, both as a whole and in its details, a striking departure from the Catholic theology of the Mass as it was formulated in Session XXII of the Council of Trent. The "canons" of the rite definitively fixed at that time provided an insurmountable barrier to any; heresy directed against the integrity of the Mystery.” 2. “....Recent reforms have amply demonstrated that fresh changes in the liturgy could lead to nothing but complete bewilderment on the part of the faithful who are already showing signs of restiveness and of an indubitable lessening of faith. Amongst the best of the clergy the practical result is an agonizing crisis of conscience of which innumerable instances come to our notice daily.“ 3. “. ...It has always been the case that when a law meant for the good of subjects proves to be on the contrary harmful, those subjects have the right, nay the duty of asking with filial trust for the abrogation of that law. Therefore we most earnestly beseech Your Holiness, at a time of such painful divisions and ever-increasing perils for the purity of the Faith and the unity of the Church, lamented by You our common Father, not to deprive us of the possibility of continuing to have recourse to the fruitful integrity of that Missale Romanum of St. Pius V. so highly praised by Your Holiness and so deeply loved and venerated by the whole Catholic world.” Brief Summary I: History of the Change. The new form of Mass was substantially rejected by the Episcopal Synod, was never submitted to the collegial judgment of the Episcopal Conferences and was never asked for by the people. It has every possibility of satisfying the most modernist of Protestants. II: Definition of the Mass. By a series of equivocations the emphasis is obsessively placed upon the 'supper' and the 'memorial' instead of on the unbloody renewal of the Sacrifice of Calvary. III: Presentation of the Ends. The three ends of the Mass are altered-: no distinction is allowed to remain between Divine and human sacrifice; bread and wine are only "spiritually" (not substantially) changed. IV:—and of the essence. The Real Presence of Christ is never alluded to and belief in it is implicitly repudiated. V:—and of the four elements of the sacrifice The position of both priest and people is falsified and the Celebrant appears as nothing more than a Protestant minister, while the true nature of the Church is intolerably misrepresented. VI: The destruction of unity. The abandonment of Latin sweeps away for good and all unity of worship. This may have its effect on unity of belief and the New Order has no intention of standing for the Faith as taught by the Council of Trent to which the Catholic conscience is bound. VII: The alienation of the Orthodox While pleasing various dissenting groups, the New Order will alienate the East. VIII: The abandonment of defenses. The New Order teems with insinuations or manifest errors against the purity of the Catholic religion and dismantles all defenses of the deposit of Faith.
Thanks to Summorum Pontificum and Universae Ecclesiae, a large number of diocesan Clergy and future Seminarians have begun to offer or at least are learning to offer the Mass of the Ages and of Tradition canonized and codified by Pope St. Pius V. Prior to his election, the Pope had written, "I am of the opinion, to be sure, that the old rite should be granted much more generously to all those who desire it. It is impossible to see what could be dangerous or unacceptable about that. A community is calling its very being into question when it suddenly declares that what until now was its holiest and highest possession is strictly forbidden and when it makes the longing for it seem downright indecent." His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI in Summorom Pontificum (the Supreme Pontiffs), "Eminent among the Popes who showed such proper concern was Saint Gregory the Great, who sought to hand on to the new peoples of Europe both the Catholic faith and the treasures of worship and culture amassed by the Romans in preceding centuries. He ordered that the form of the sacred liturgy, both of the sacrifice of the Mass and the Divine Office, as celebrated in Rome, should be defined and preserved. He greatly encouraged those monks and nuns who, following the Rule of Saint Benedict, everywhere proclaimed the Gospel and illustrated by their lives the salutary provision of the Rule that “nothing is to be preferred to the work of God.” In this way the Sacred Liturgy, celebrated according to the Roman usage, enriched the faith and piety, as well as the culture, of numerous peoples. It is well known that in every century of the Christian era the Church’s Latin liturgy in its various forms has inspired countless Saints in their spiritual life, confirmed many peoples in the virtue of religion and enriched their devotion. In the course of the centuries, many other Roman Pontiffs took particular care that the sacred liturgy should accomplish this task more effectively. Outstanding among them was Saint Pius V, who in response to the desire expressed by the Council of Trent, renewed with great pastoral zeal the Church’s entire worship, saw to the publication of liturgical books corrected and “restored in accordance with the norm of the Fathers,” and provided them for the use of the Latin Church." And in Universae Ecclesiae (Universal Church), "By reason of the increase in the number of those asking to be able to use the forma extraordinaria, it has become necessary to provide certain norms in this area. Among the statements of the Holy Father was the following: “There is no contradiction between the two editions of the Roman Missal. In the history of the Liturgy growth and progress are found, but not a rupture. What was sacred for prior generations, remains sacred and great for us as well, and cannot be suddenly prohibited altogether or even judged harmful.”[2]" Holy Mass, Easter Sunday 1941: Bp. Sheen explains.
A beautiful post Terry. Beautiful because robed in Charity and all that is robed in charity and crowned with love is always beautiful. The devil seeks dissension and schism so we must aim for the exact opposite. What could be worse than to rent the garments of Christ's Holy Bride the Church? There are not two Churches but only one. Not two masses but only one, though under different forms and RItes of course. It's not just Michael Matt who causes me unease a the moment, but other commentators as well. I am fond of them all and have a deep respect for them but....well these are such difficult times and w emust pick our words carefully. I think you summed up why better than I ever could. I was brought up i nvery Traditionalist family but I love the Novus Ordo too and have no problem with Vatican 2 as such , just the way certain people misued it. But yes I am alittle concenred lately about certina comments which tend to be to lead towards schims. But I know these are very difficult times.... yet even so...
I kind of tread carefully here. Things are so bad in the Church a deep , deep crisis I don;lt want to start arguments between Trads and others. We are one CHurch not several. We really need to be standing together at this times against our real enemies within.
Yes. Exactly. We are not the "enemy" and we are not traditional or NO. We are CATHOLIC--the Body of Christ. One. One. We have evil in the institutional Church. No doubt. But tearing at the Body is not the answer. Paul addressed this in one of his letters about saying "I belong to Paul" or "I belong to Apollos". He set the early Church straight. We all belong to Christ.
